Amanuel Asrat is an award-winning Eritrean poet, critic, songwriter, and editor-in-chief of the leading newspaper ዘመን (Zemen, meaning The Times), has been detained incommunicado for over 16 years. Asrat was arrested at his home on the morning of 23 September 2001 amid a crackdown on state and private media. Other independent journalists, opposition politicians and students were also arrested during the crackdown. It is believed that Asrat and the other journalists have neither been charged nor tried.
Asrat is thought to be among the few surviving journalists from the 2001 crackdown, alive but in deteriorating health. Unconfirmed reports allege that some of the journalists have died, having been subjected to torture or other ill treatment, including lack of access to medical care. The limited information available suggests that Asrat was detained in the maximum-security Eiraeiro prison until the beginning of 2016. According to unverified information leaked in February 2016, he was then allegedly transferred to an undisclosed location along with other inmates. The Eritrean authorities have not confirmed this.
Asrat, who received the 2016 Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression, is credited for the resurgence of Eritrean poetry in the early 2000s. Along with two friends, he created a literary club called ቍርሲ ቀዳም ኣብ ጠዓሞት (Saturday’s Supper) in 2001. This club kindled the emergence of similar clubs in all major Eritrean towns. His writings tackle subjects ranging from the daily life of the underprivileged to conflict and war. Unlike most popular Eritrean wartime poetry, his work provides a negative insight into conflict.
His award-winning poem ኣበሳ ኲናት (The Scourge of War) alludes to the border dispute with neighbouring Ethiopia as it describes the blood shed by two brothers. In 1999, the poem was awarded one of Eritrea’s most prestigious literary and artistic awards by the state-run National Holidays Coordinating Committee, which noted the uniqueness of Asrat’s poem for standing firmly against war. The newspaper ዘመን (Zemen/The Times) where he worked became the leading literary newspaper in Eritrea and was run by a circle of critics who helped shape the cultural landscape of the country.
PEN has long campaigned on behalf of Amanuel Asrat and most recently highlighted his case by featuring an ‘Empty Chair’ in PEN International’s 83 Congress in Lviv, Ukraine. For International Translation Day on 30 September 2015, PEN members from around the world translated ኣበሳ ኲናት (The Scourge of War) into over a dozen languages, all of which can be viewed here.
PEN International believes that Asrat’s ongoing detention is an attempt by the Eritrean government to stifle critical voices, including calls for establishing constitutional government. We call for his immediate release and the end to violations of freedom of expression in Eritrea.
Take Action
Send appeals to the Eritrean government:
- Protesting the detention of poet and journalist Amanuel Asrat on politically motivated grounds and without known charges or trial since 2001;
- Expressing concern for Asrat’s health as detainees are believed to have suffered ill treatment, probably torture and lack of access to medical care;
- Demanding that the Eritrean authorities immediately clarify the fate of all detained journalists and release immediately and unconditionally those still alive
Write to: President His Excellency Isaias Afewerki Office of the President P.O.Box 257Asmara, EritreaFax:+ 2911 125123
Minister of Information Hon. Yemane GebremeskelP.O. Box 242Asmara, Eritrea+291 124 847 Twitter: @hawelti
Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for Eritrea in your country if possible. Details of some Eritrean embassies can be found here.
Social Media
Suggested tweets:
- Free #Eritrea Poet Amanuel Asrat held without charge for 16 years for politically motivated reasons #FreeAsrat @pen_int
- Amplify poets imprisoned for exercising their right to #FOE
Publicity
PEN members are encouraged to:
- Publish articles and opinion pieces in your national or local press highlighting Amanuel Asrat’s case;
- Organise public events, press conferences or demonstrations;
- Share information about Amanuel Asrat and your campaigning for him via social media.
Read and Share His Poetry
The Scourge of War - Amanuel Asrat (1999)
Something growled
Something boomed
Invading the calm
It echoed.
… Stuck
Where two brothers pass each other by
Where two brothers meet
Where two brothers join
In the piazza of life and death
In the gulf between calamity and culture
In the valley of anxiety and peace
Something boomed.
While the chia and seraw acacias spat at each other
Sorghum and millet cut each other down
With no one to collect them they feed on one another,
Until a single seed remains …
Brimming with tears
Being chopped—hacked
Sowed unto itself.
… planted
In earth yet to gush In that indiscernible thing
Stream of blood and water,
The seed …
Assailed by:
The freezing sun
Tempestuous nimbus cloud
Grayish lightning
Scalding rain …
Slipping through littered iron
Climbing onto the spirit of death
Shouldering its sterile life
Here, it has grasped at spring.
The seed …
Arrived on its own
From the blood and water yet to gush
Whose and to whom unascertained
Its tributaries unidentifiable
When it parted that spring
But in that spring …
When the seed looked to the right
He was a man, it was a beard
When it looked to the left
He was the earth, it was a seed
Bewildered… it fed on amazement
Tempted … but joining forces is not like it
Who should it stick with, where should it lurk
Who should it win over or be thrown at
But that spring’s dirtiness is its ugliness
It plowed with the beak of bullet
Spilled infinite lives Swept breath
Reaped death with death
Threshing it on the shoulders of our offspring
Finally bruised the fruit in distrust.
For the fruit …
When day and night became one
Anxiety and calm mingled
A world within a world
War within peace
Trust in betrayal’s backdoor
It sunk in bewilderment.
Is it not bewildering?
The scourge of this spring of war
After a mother’s tear for her children
The clan’s tear for its time
The earth’s tear for the earth
Flowed and flowed like a stream
Soon the earth became wet and muddy
The property, mired
Entrapping all … robbing them
Then the shovel and the pick were produced
And the shroud and the stretcher sprang up
But …
How fast everything is used up and everyone scrambles for it
All of us crave and own it
The ugliness of this thing, war
When its spring arrives unwished-for
When its ravaging echoes knock at your door
It is then that war’s curse brews doom
But … You serve it willy-nilly
Unwillingly you keep it company
Still, you pray so hard for it to be silenced!
Translated from Tigrinya by Tedros Abraham in collaboration with David Shook (2015)